Most people only wake up with hangovers after parties. Seventeen-year-old Violet wakes up with frogs falling out of her mouth whenever she speaks, and her twin sister CJ’s dripping diamonds with every word. As if starting at a new high school wasn’t hellish enough, they’ve been hit with a curse straight out of a fairy tale, with not a handsome prince in sight.

Apparently Mum and Dad don’t work for the military after all, but for a secret organisation dedicated to keeping the magical denizens of the world safely locked away. These are not the harmless fairies of children’s tales, but powerful beings with a score to settle for their long years of imprisonment. Now the barriers are failing, and if Vi can’t find answers fast the world will be overrun with vengeful fairies. And then there’ll be no happily ever after for anyone.

This month's Book With Buzz: "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture - perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. See more

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marina Finlayson is a reformed wedding organist who now writes fantasy. She is married and shares her Sydney home with three kids, a large collection of dragon statues and one very stupid dog with a death wish. Her idea of heaven is lying in the bath with a cup of tea and a good book until she goes wrinkly.

Top customer reviews

This is a lovely book, retelling the old fairytale of the two sisters, the beautiful one, who created diamonds when speaking, and the... well, the other, who when speaking, created frogs. But this is not the classic fairytale, rewarding the pretty sister for being pretty. It's a clever story of how this curse really pans out (along with some other fairytales). Violet and CJ are both charming characters, with real depth and emotion, and I really loved that underneath the surface of their typecast "popular girl" and "outcast" there was real sisterly love and companionship.

To be clear, I am not a teenage girl. I am, in fact, a middle-aged man. Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed The Fairytale Curse. Finlayson's writing is refreshing with a good mix of suspense, action and comedy. I laughed out loud in several places. Possibly targeted toward the teenage audience this story nevertheless had enough depth to keep me engaged. My main issue with the book is that this is book 1, and where oh where are the other ones?

Great book with interesting characters. I usually like a bit more comedy in the books I read but this book was well worth the time. It's wonderful to read a book based in Australia by an Australian author in this genre.I'm looking forward to reading this author's other books.

Definitely not my thing! But after Twiceborn (The Proving Book 1) series, I thought why not? Why not indeed. Yes, ok, I admit it, after a bit of a slow start I'm hooked and now waiting impatiently for the next book in the series.